Hyewon was still having a chat with Nayeon when they heard the news about the fight in front of the toilet. They weaved their way through the crowd while countlessly muttering excuse me and headed inside the gymnasium. Looking around, Hyewon saw a crowd of people standing before the toilet at the end of the hallway. In an instant, Hyewon and Nayeon raced towards the commotion.

“Excuse me. Let us through,” Hyewon and Nayeon kept repeating as they forced their way to the front. Nayeon kept showing off the back of the cheerleader uniform she was wearing, which had the words Hana High on it, so that people would make way for them.

The sight was so horrible that Hyewon could only gasp when she saw them. Hoseok and Yoongi were fortunately unharmed, but Kangjoon had bruises all over his face and the corner of his lips was bleeding. The three boys from Wabu High were also injured. She couldn’t help but scream Stop! when they lunged themselves towards Hana High players.

It was probably only her imagination, but it looked like Kangjoon was shielding Hoseok and Yoongi. Whenever the Wabu players were about to hit Hoseok or Yoongi, Kangjoon threw his body between them and accepted the blow instead. He then countered their punches and directed their attention towards him, so they would leave Hoseok and Yoongi alone. However, the situation didn’t look good for him – it’s one against three.

Hyewon remembered back when Jimin and Yoongi had almost got into a physical fight. That time Jungkook had scolded her for trying to stop them by herself. Although she was itching to go there and break up the fight, she held herself back and instead, she asked to a student beside her, “Have someone called a security guard?”

Judging from his school uniform, he must be from Jawoon High – one of the powerhouses. “Yeah. They should be here by now.”

Just like he said, three security guards came rushing in, one of them was holding Kangjoon and the other two were restraining the angry three Wabu players. Yoongi and Hoseok also helped pulling Kangjoon away from the other players. At that point, Hana High’s players arrived at the site one by one. Her eyes landed on Jungkook who looked very worried and as their gaze met, he dashed towards her.

“What happened?” Jungkook asked, slightly out of breath.

Hyewon shook her head. “They’re already fighting when I got here.”

Struggling to free himself from the packed crowd, Namjoon appeared from behind Jungkook. His eyes directly went to the injured Kangjoon and the Wabu players, then to Yoongi and Hoseok who seemed very mad as they talked to Kangjoon. A worried frown formed on his face.

“This looks pretty serious,” Namjoon said. “I have to go get Coach Bang. You guys stay with them and update me if something happens. And help me gather the team.”

Hyewon and Jungkook nodded simultaneously. Seeing that, Namjoon left them and headed back into the swarm of people, forcing his way through them.

“I’ll find the rest of your team and bring them here,” Nayeon volunteered. Before Hyewon could say anything, she took off, yelling let me through so loudly her voice rang through the hallway.

Hyewon’s attention was back at Kangjoon, Yoongi and Hoseok. Rather than being angry at the Wabu players, the two starters seemed to be more furious at the injured benchwarmer. The three of them were quarreling and she wanted to know what it was about, but she couldn’t hear them clearly from where she stood. So she could only watch them anxiously.

Why did this happen right before an important match? Hyewon thought, partly sad, partly worried.

“Hey, don’t worry. Everything is going to be okay,” Jungkook said with a smile, trying to reassure her. But she could tell from his face that he wasn’t sure himself. However, his smile was calming enough for her to feel a bit better.

Hyewon returned his smile. “Yeah. It’s going to be alright.”

Minutes later, Taehyung and Jimin got to the front of the crowd and stood beside Jungkook and Hyewon. It’s impossible to not notice them because of Taehyung who kept bumping into people and loudly calling Jungkook. Jimin silently followed behind him.

“Your friend Nayeon asked me to go here. What’s going on?” Jimin asked Hyewon.

The question was left unanswered since at that moment, Taehyung pointed at Kangjoon. “Why is his face all battered up?”

Jimin looked in the direction of Taehyung’s hand, horror settling on his face. “Don’t tell me… It’s a fight?”

Before Hyewon or Jungkook could say anything, Seokjin came to their side with Joohyun. They seemed to be totally oblivious to the situation.

“What’s all this fuss about?” Seokjin scanned around, curious and puzzled. The next second, he spotted the players and the security guards. His face turned serious in a blink of an eye. “Where’s Namjoon?”

Joohyun also noticed the main reason for the commotion and she, like Hyewon, gasped at the view. Worry was clearly written all over her face.

“He went to get the coach,” Jungkook answered distractedly, tiptoeing to look over people’s head, assumedly searching for Coach Bang and Namjoon.

Suddenly, the crowd of people parted and they made way for the group who were heading towards the end of the hallway. As they moved forward, Hyewon could see the ones coming were the officials, Coach Bang and Namjoon tagging along behind them. Wabu’s coach were also going with them.

The officials calmly assessed the situation and then suggested to move to a room, out of people’s eyes. Wabu and Hana teams followed the officials into a door on the right side of the hallway that led into a kind of meeting room. The players, including Hyewon and the other managers, automatically stood behind the chairs, while the officials and the coaches sat down.

They started with reading the rules about fights between schools in the middle of the tournament and the consequence, which was disqualification of the players involved. The coaches nodded in understanding and apologized, Coach Bang slightly glancing at Kangjoon, Hoseok and Yoongi in disappointment. Losing Hoseok and Yoongi in semifinal match would badly damage the team, both in offense and defense.

One of the officials announced, “For the six of you who are involved—”

“Four,” Kangjoon said, wincing as his cut lips hurt him when he spoke.

“Excuse me?” The official looked confused when Kangjoon suddenly cut him off.

Kangjoon explained, “Yoongi and Hoseok have nothing to do with our fight.”

Everyone was surprised with his words, especially Yoongi and Hoseok. However, Hyewon understood his intention. Kangjoon didn’t want to make them disqualified, so that’s why he’d taken the hit for them and also countered the punch by himself.

“They were at the scene when the fight occurred,” the official impatiently said.

“They were accidentally at the scene when the fight occurred,” Kangjoon corrected. “Did you see them actually joining the fight? I think you’re smart enough to be able to tell that from the way we all look right now.”

Though his words were scathing and rude, he had a point. It’s obvious that the four injured players were the only ones hitting each other physically. But that didn’t really prove that Hoseok and Yoongi weren’t taking part in this.

“Enough.” The other official seemed to have lost his patience because of Kangjoon’s impoliteness. “And how can we prove that?”

Kangjoon cocked his head lazily towards the door. “You can start by asking the spectators out there.”

The official who hadn’t said anything since entering the room got up from her seat and walked out of the room. After around five minutes, she went back inside, confirming that Kangjoon’s words were proven right. However, Wabu’s players didn’t find this fair, so they tried to argue and insisted that Hoseok and Yoongi were involved, so it suddenly turned into a heated discussion.

The debate went on and on until another official came in, telling that it’s time for the semifinals to start. Finally, the officials in the room concluded that only four of them were disqualified from the tournament. And all of them left for the court.

The whole team of Hana High breathed a sigh of relief. On the other hand, Hoseok and Yoongi didn’t look too happy. Their pride seemingly didn’t allow them to be satisfied with this conclusion. Being shielded by other people would certainly leave a bad taste in proud people’s mouth.

Hyewon hoped they wouldn’t end up fighting between teammates and make the already bad situation worse. Unfortunately, judging from the look on their face, a quarrel was inevitable. She anxiously watched them from the side as they glared daggers at each other.

“Why would you do that?” Yoongi snapped as they were out at the hallway. People started to stare.

Hoseok didn’t look as angry as Yoongi, but he clearly wasn’t pleased. Folding his arms across his chest, he said, rather harshly, “If you think we should be happy because you’re covering us, you’re wrong. You just humiliated and underestimated us.”

Scoffing, Kangjoon countered, “If I didn’t do that, you’d be in the same shoes as me. You should be thankful.”

Yoongi looked so furious he nearly exploded out of rage. “I didn’t ask you to do that!”

“I didn’t do it for you!” Kangjoon barked. He glanced at the coach, the teacher and the other players. Then he lowered his gaze, looking slightly calmer than before. In a low voice, he muttered sheepishly, “I did it for the team.”

“Huh?”

Kangjoon sighed impatiently. “Well, you should have understood what I mean. We’ve left them once. And they welcomed us with open arms when we returned. I wanted to do something for them in return, as an apology and gratitude.” He hesitated, as if whatever he’s about to say next was a hard thing to admit. “You two are the main defense and offense in our team. We can’t afford to lose you in our important game.”

Hyewon was impressed with how Kangjoon expressed himself. He struck her as someone who’s hot-headed and had high self-esteem. Confessing his true feelings about the team must have been a great feat for him.

“That’s why you sacrified yourself, right?” Hyewon said bluntly, not realizing she was saying it out loud. “Because you know the team needs them more.” The next second, she gasped and hastily said as she saw Kangjoon gaping at her, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

You stupid,